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Chapter 6: Love’s Pawn

“Would you quit dallying, hanyou? I wish to reach our destination before nightfall.”

Inuyasha pushed his way through some underbrush and growled as his oversized clothes snagged on some brambles. He jerked his hand out of the brambles, not caring about the long rip he created in the fabric.

“Need I remind you that you are wearing my clothes and these are the only clothes that you have to wear hanyou? I suggest you take better care of them.”

“I never asked to wear your clothes, asshole.” Inuyasha spouted angrily, “So, if they get ripped it’s your own damn fault.”

“I could force you to travel without clothes if you prefer. I am sure that would be more comfortable for an uncouth, barbarian such as yourself.”

“Fine,” Inuyasha exclaimed as he walked ahead of Sesshoumaru, “I’ll try to keep your precious clothes unripped. Ya happy, asshole.”

“I believe I warned you about your language, hanyou.”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Inuyasha said mockingly, “Since I’m such a barbarian I have no other way to express myself.”

“That may be the case, hanyou, but do not forget to whose company you keep at the moment.”

Inuyasha rolled his eyes and continued forward.

“Where are we going anyway?”

“Is your mind so small it refuses to retain the simplest of information?” Sesshoumaru said as he moved in front of the hanyou, “I told you merely a second ago that I was taking you to a diviner.”

“Why are we travelling by foot?” Inuyasha asked, “You’re supposed to be an all powerful demon, couldn’t you send for her?”

“Maeko is a difficult woman to track. She never stays in the same place twice, thus it is impossible to send for her. It is also easier for me to find her scent if we travel by foot.”

“So, I guess the Great Demon of the West does have some limitations, if you can be bested by a measly woman.”

“That is a grand statement coming from a hanyou who doesn’t have to the simplest concept of how to protect himself, nor does he have the strength to.”

“Screw you,” Inuyasha muttered angrily, “I’ve been taking care of myself for nearly a century, and what would you know about it? You’ve always been a pampered little prince with no worries and people to baby you. I learned how to live on my own. I didn’t need anyone to teach me.”

Sesshoumaru stopped in his movement to stare at the frustrated hanyou as he tugged on his oversized kimono.

“You know nothing of my childhood, hanyou. Don’t presume to make comparisons between our statures.”

“Well, you don’t know anything about me, either. So stop pretending like you do.”

Sesshoumaru turned away from him and continued walking.

“I know enough about that human whore to guess what kind of life you led, Hanyou.”

Inuyasha growled low in his throat.

“You bastard, stop talking about my mother, she’s been dead a long time, so how would you know anything about her.”

“I met your mother, hanyou.” Sesshoumaru said, “Father made no move to hide his disgraceful mistress. He made it his mission to torment my mother with her presence. I know of your mother, hanyou. She was a dimwitted pawn that had little meaning to our father, and your birth only furthered the disgrace.”

“You don’t know anything about my mother, bastard.” Inuyasha yelled, “It wasn’t anything like you described.”

“Why do you think father wasn’t at your birth, hanyou?” Sesshoumaru asked calmly as he continued to walk, “It is customary in the Inu demon tribe for fathers to be present at the birthing as a way to create ties with their offspring.”

Sesshoumaru turned to stare at Inuyasha who had stopped walking. His eyes were marking the forest floor as he let Sesshoumaru’s words sink in.

“Father attended my birthing.” Sesshoumaru said, “The battle that he lost his life in wasn’t that pressing. He had no need to go, but he went anyway. Did you ever wonder why, hanyou?”

Inuyasha stared up at Sesshoumaru as he waited for him to continue, his eyes were an unreadable dim gold that shined eerily.

“It was because your birth meant nothing to him.” Sesshoumaru continued, his voice steady, “He didn’t need to witness your birth because he was using you to humiliate my mother. You were nothing but an afterthought that would cause more pain.”
“I don’t care.” Inuyasha said weakly, “I don’t care if I was an afterthought or if I was never meant to be born at all. I exist whether you like it or not.”

“Your existence is shameful, hanyou.” Sesshoumaru said, “You are content to live as a pawn?”

Inuyasha shrugged, “I’m used to being a plaything for other people.”

Sesshoumaru grabbed his arm before he could walk passed him.

“What do you mean by that, hanyou?” he asked as Inuyasha slung out of his grasp.

“When will you finally understand that I need not tell you anything,” Inuyasha asked smugly as he imitated Sesshoumaru.

Sesshoumaru inwardly sighed but decided not to press the issue. Minutes passed with continued silence between the two brothers. Inuyasha was contemplative, his eyes glazed over with a distanced look. Sesshoumaru glanced at him coldly once or twice amazed that the hanyou had enough brainpower to think so deeply, but he refrained from saying so.

“Do you even know where you’re going?” Inuyasha asked gruffly after Sesshoumaru maneuvered skillfully between the scrubby crannies of an eglantine bush.

Inuyasha, on the other hand, was fighting through the rough spindly barbs. He pulled the branches off his arms and shoulders wrenching them in anger.

“I am not so indulgent as to lose my way, hanyou.”

Sesshoumaru turned as an angry sigh erupted from Inuyasha. The younger demon was grasping at a branch that had supplanted itself around his wrist. Sesshoumaru watched on in amusement as Inuyasha tried to tug his wrist free.

“Ugh,” Inuyasha grimaced as the barb dug into his skin. Sesshoumaru watched a small bead of crimson rise on his skin and bubble over the rim of the bramble. Sesshoumaru swept through the bramble easily.

“Stop moving,” he said in a commanding tone as blood began to mark trails down Inuyasha’s skin.

Inuyasha froze his hand still resting on the bramble. Sesshoumaru appeared before Inuyasha in a flurry of movements.

“This is a demon weed.” he said, “The more you struggle, the more blood will be drained out of you.”

Sesshoumaru lifted his hand to the weed, his fingers glowed an eerie greenish color.

“What are you doing?” Inuyasha asked in alarm.

“Move your hand,” Sesshoumaru said in the same commanding tone.

Inuyasha moved his hand rigidly to his side. Sesshoumaru’s poisoned fingers ran over the choking bramble. Inuyasha grimaced as the melting weed burned his skin. Sesshoumaru turned away as Inuyasha brushed the brambles from his skin.

“We have little time to waste, hanyou. If you wish to be rid of me refrain from entering into similar situations.”

“S’not like I planned it, asshole.” Inuyasha spouted as he rubbed his bleeding wrist. Before he could even blink, Sesshoumaru was in front of him dragging Inuyasha wrist to his mouth.

“What the hell are you doing?” Inyasha exclaimed as he tried to tug his hand away.

“There is poison in your system, hanyou, I am attempting to remove it.” he glared at Inuyasha before saying, “Does that satisfy your curiosity?”

Without waiting for a reply Sesshoumaru ran his tongue across Inuyasha’s broken skin. Inuyasha grimaced, his eyes closing tightly as Sesshoumaru’s breathed lathed his wrist. He gasped as the silky appendage slipped across his skin. Suddenly the feeling left him. He opened his eyes just as Sesshoumaru dropped his wrist.

“Why did you help me?”

Sesshoumaru stopped in his walk to glance behind at his half brother.

“Wouldn’t it have been easier if I’d just…?”

“What would be the purpose in that?” Sesshoumaru said with a hint of annoyance, “If I wanted you to die, I would have killed you earlier myself.”

“Why haven’t you?”

“You still persist in this, hanyou?” Sesshoumaru asked as he turned around, “You may continue to ask, but I have no intention of revealing myself until we meet Meako. I can understand the impatience of an undisciplined hanyou, but you shall have to steel your resolve until we reach our destination.”

“And how long will that be or don’t you know?”

“A day or two, if we meet with no more delays.” Sesshoumaru sent a glare his way.

Inuyasha huffed and mumbled under his breath as he fallowed the silver haired demon in front of him. Sesshoumaru stared at the waning sun, his eyes sinking into golden glimmers.

“We shall have to stop here for the night,” Sesshoumaru said.

Inuyasha stared at him warily and turned his face to the sun.

“We can continue.” He said, “There is still some sun left.”

“It is already far past midday, hanyou.” Sesshoumaru intoned, “I have no intention of traipsing around in the dark.”

“Fine, have it your way.” Inuyasha grumbled as he leapt into a high tree, “I just wanted to get to our destination faster, that’s all.”

“Speed has its own merits, but foolishness does not. It will be harder to find the trail in the dark. Inuyoukai are not nocturnal beings. If your hanyou blood renders you incapable of understanding the importance of rest, I feel no need to correct you on your idiocy.”

Inuyasha huffed and laid his face on the course bark of the tree away from his brother’s cold façade. Sesshoumaru settled himself on the crooked arm like structure of the tree trunk several feet underneath his younger brother. Two sets of golden eyes scanned the deeply darkening forest. Both dreaded going to sleep, one from fear, the other from apprehension and confusion.

“This is ridiculous,” Sesshoumaru thought frustrated, “I cannot help what may happen in my sleep and the alternative of sleeplessness is a more dangerous proposition. I cannot afford to be weak, not with the hanyou around.”

He let his eyes drift close slowly, and was relieved at first to see a steady weave of black. This relief was short lived as the scenery quickly shifted.

Kay, what do you think? Should I change this chapter?
Its going to take me a while to get out the next chapter. My father has changed the password on the computer. Which mean's it will I will have to go on covertly, but I hope you'll still read. I will get the next chapter out.